In various countries in the world, we can find vehicle and vehicle cargo theft common-place. Certain historical events have also contributed to a growing need for additional safety in terms of both finding the vehicle as well as stopping the vehicle.
It is already common to see a vehicle stopped by the side of the road due to mechanical or electrical problems. In the future, it may be more common to see vehicles stopped due to some event that caused it to shutdown. However, even if a vehicle stopping system is never used, it is at least available.
Many vehicles today have a built in method of shutting off the engine to prevent damage to the engine. Instances of this include loss of oil or engine coolant, or some other failure that would, if left unchecked, damage the engine. The damage is usually prevented by the system initiating an internally triggered engine shutdown.
Many vehicles will typically have some kind of data communication device, sending information about the vehicle's operating state, messages to or from the driver, and keeping track of the vehicle and or cargo. The communication device may be short-range RF wireless, or long-range cellular phone or satellite-based or other type of carrier.
The communication link between the truck and another location (typically a dispatch station) may also keep track of the location of the vehicle for the sole purpose of ensuring that it stays on its planned path. Any deviation from this path may indicate theft—in some cases of extremely valuable cargo (real or perceived); theft may be the only reason the cargo strays from the scheduled path.
Some communication systems have a tight connection to the vehicle and vehicle operation. Many systems today have means of stopping the vehicle by disabling the engine, cutting fuel, etc. The engine shutdown mechanisms are typically simple. Stopping the fuel to the engine will typically bring the engine to a halt rather quickly.
Less simple methods may be better control on a road speed limit switch used in conjunction with the fuel shutoff. Additionally, if the connections are made to a vehicle's electrical control center, there is more control and better feed-back to the driver.
Some systems just stop the fuel flow. Others limit road speed first, then stop fuel flow. Others are connected to the electrical system and can limit road speed as well as stop the engine, both via electrical inputs.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,549,130 discloses an anti-theft system for remote actuation. The system can be programmed to control multiple parameters, such as timing, and/or the degree of disabling and re-enabling of various vehicle systems may be programmed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,937,823 discloses an anti-theft system that monitors the speed and disables the engine when the speed falls below a pre-set value. The engine may also be controlled and gradually shutdown by interrupting the ignition system. See the abstract.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,504,472 B2 describes engine shutdown accomplished by opening/closing a relay which opens the ignition coil circuit.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,549,130 B1 discloses an external command that can disable the vehicle ignition system. Disablement only prevents the vehicle from restarting.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,249,215 B1 has a main idea to use vehicle-side analysis to allow the stopping of the vehicle only in an area deemed “traffic-safe”. If unsafe, power is reduced; if safe, engine shutdown is executed. The Vehicle-side analysis device checks for safe/unsafe conditions. A second point is to use GPS—enter all unsafe areas in a database (DB), then use the vehicle's GPS location to determine if the vehicle is in a safe area. A third condition is to monitor air quality to identify if the vehicle is at a gas station. A fourth condition is to determine if the vehicle is being towed or carried by another vehicle. A fifth point is to progressively reduce the available engine power step-by-step or continuously. A sixth point is to allow shutdown only if the vehicle is parked.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,313,140 B1 describes a control system in a stolen vehicle that is operated to bring the stolen vehicle to a safe stop. One control system example could be fuel regulation, reducing the fuel supply rate to reduce the engine power until stalling or idling (and keeping the steering system operable). Other examples would be to activate the brakes, steering control, clutch, reducing amount of engine power passed through transmission.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,347,276 B1 discusses methods of writing to an EEPROM in an engine control unit.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,925,940 discusses methods of remotely applying the parking brake that can be applied while a vehicle is driving.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,937,823 discusses remote engine shutdown by receiving a command from a selective call radio. Shutdown is accomplished by interrupting the ignition intermittently if engine speed is greater than a pre-set value or immediately if engine speed is lower than the pre-set value. Engine speed is measured with a tachograph.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,977,654 discusses engine disablement after detection of an unauthorized vehicle startup. Engine shutdown is accomplished with a relay to disconnect the battery and ground the battery cable.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,072,248 discusses remote engine shutdown by multi-step fuel reduction control to fuel pump via engine module and intermittently pulsing fuel pump/supply, first to slow the vehicle to below idle speed, then to stall the engine with total fuel shut off.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,513,244 discusses prohibiting remote engine restart. The engine must be off before this can take place.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,563,453 discusses remote control of vehicle, and includes a vehicle locking system so as to lock the vehicle, and interrupting the voltage to one or more of the vehicle electrical circuits so as to deactivate the engine, close windows, etc.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,638,044 and 5,819,869 discuss remote engine shutdown by disconnecting the ignition coil.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,463,372 discusses basic engine shutdown by interrupting the electronic distributor or EFI control voltage. Intermittent interruption of the voltage would put the system in a partially disabled state, and full interruption would be a complete shutdown state.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,878,050 discusses vehicle control, decelerating, stopping after a delay (by control of either the engine timing or fuel supply), fuel disengage (with a mechanical plunger and membrane), engine disabling by use of a relay between ignition coil and spark plugs.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,292,620 discusses a vehicle disabling system actuated by low fuel level in tank. A hidden switch can be set such that a full tank of fuel looks like an empty tank. The shutdown mechanics connect a relay to the starter circuit, and also a means to turn off the engine and visual and audio driver feed-back. No external control and no control of road speed limiting is discussed.
Typical use scenarios for the need to shutdown the engine begin when some external event is received by the vehicle's communication system, translated into a shutdown command, and the engine shuts down. The police will probably know where the vehicle is at this time. The thief, realizing that his time may be up, leaves the vehicle where it stopped. The police, upon arriving at the vehicle, find that it is in a location that is very dangerous. This might be an intersection, train crossing, etc. There might be hazardous chemicals in the vehicle and it may have stopped near a populated center or on a bridge.
Some triggering events include but not limited to:    1. Vehicle moving outside a specified GPS location by some predetermined distance.    2. Vehicle getting close to a GPS location by some predetermined distance.    3. Driver-initiated via button.    4. Communication device command.    5. Communication device alarm system.    6. Vehicle alarm system.    7. Law enforcement controlled.